Recalibrating The Flux Capacitor
by Eshe Returned
Summary: Kat didn't call her dad, so how'd she manage to get the conversion done before the boys come into the shop the next morning? AU version of events from the Auto Shop episode. Kat/Pat.


**A/N:** This is AU, but I did try to keep it as IC as I possibly could. Obviously, if they were completely IC this never would have happened...at least not at this point in the series.

**Disclaimer:** I tried to research the conversion process, but some info may be incorrect. Most of my research comes from Frybrid's website, so...yeah..not mine. Anything you recognize...not mine. Also, I'll bet you can spot them...I stole some lines from the movie.

**Recalibrating The Flux Capacitor**

"Seriously. You're still here?" Patrick Verona walks in and leans against the side of Kat's Volvo.

"What now? I thought we'd agreed on a minimum safe distance. I might find that crowbar you know." Kat drags herself out of her defeated slump on the floor and goes to fiddle at the engine compartment.

"Strictly speaking I'm not allowed to lock up shop with someone still here, even someone who stabbed me in the toe."

"Someone still has her panties in a twist. I already apologized for that, and I'm not leaving."

Patrick walks over and smirks at her. When it's obvious he's not going to leave she turns to face him. He's barely a foot away.

"Maybe you need to go back to first grade for a refresher on spatial reasoning. This is closer...not farther," she snarls.

"And that's a vacuum line, not a fuel line." Patrick smirks and grabs the manual.

Kat grabs it back. "I see you still haven't worked on those manners."

He stares at her, and then he takes the vacuum line and re-connects it. He grabs the pipe wrench and loosens the coolant line, and then he plugs it. "Vegetable oil is thicker than diesel, so you need to make sure it gets heated before it reaches the injection pump. You run this line," he points to the plugged coolant line, "into a hose-in-hose setup for the vegetable oil supply line. And technically it would be easier to start this conversion from the new V.O. tank and work your way back up to the front." He smirks at her in that cocky way of his.

She glares at him. "When I need your help...I'll ask."

"You need my help."

"I still don't hear me asking."

He grins at her. "I get it, you're not a damsel in distress, but I'm not going to wait all night to lock up, and I'm not going to lock you in," he leans in closer, "even if you want me to."

"Oh. Yeah. I want you. I need you. Oh baby, oh baby." She rolls her eyes and turns back to the car, grabbing the wrenches.

He smirks, "You finally admit it." Patrick grabs the wrench from her. "Look, I promise I won't tell the guys I helped."

Kat snatches the wrench back, "Fine, Mr. Goodwrench, you can help...by reading the manual."

Patrick grins and goes to her trunk to take out an elbow connection. "I _am _the manual," he smiles smugly.

Kat rolls her eyes as she removes the plug to attach the connection, and coolant gushes out. She quickly puts the plug back in the line, but her hands are completely covered in green liquid and grease. Patrick laughs, and she shoots him a withering glare, but he quirks his eyebrow and steals her wrench again, quickly connecting and plugging the elbow. "You just have to be quicker. We're going to have to purge the system of air when we're done anyway. A little coolant escaping is fine. You did remember to buy some more right?"

"Of course," Kat walks to her trunk and pulls out a gallon of antifreeze.

"Okay, good. Now, the first thing you need to do is get all the parts out, and we'll set them up on the ground exactly like they need to go in the car. Did you buy new seals? We're going to need to replace any rubber we come across with synthetics."

Kat pulls out a bag of seals, and he nods in approval.

"So where'd you learn about cars? All from shop?" she asks.

"Hey, guess what, work on cars goes a lot faster if you don't talk," Patrick focuses a little harder than necessary on rummaging through his bag. "There's a stereo system in the corner over there," Patrick finds his Filthy Souls CD and hands it to Kat, "There, go put that in. It's better to have music while you work."

"I'm not here to be your honey-do girl. This is my car...my conversion. You go put the CD in yourself."

He grins at her, "But it's so much more fun if you do it. Then I can watch your back." Kat swats him. "Fine, I bet you don't even know how to operate the shop stereo," Patrick takes the CD and starts to walk away, but Kat snatches it from him, and after several short seconds she comes back, and music is blaring.

He smiles. "Okay, let's get this tank out first."

ooooo

"That's good, exactly like that. Here, you don't need to tighten these connections too snug...too much torque and the metal will twist...it's just aluminum." Patrick puts his hand on Kat's as she tightens the return valve connection and shows her how tight it should be.

Kat blushes and turns her face away. "Thanks. I think I got it," she says, elbowing him out of the way. He just grins and goes back to work on the supply valve.

"We're going to have to hook these up to a switch at the dash," said Patrick, "since you need to start this thing up with diesel, and then once the car is at running temperature you can switch over to veggie oil. Just don't forget to run it on diesel again ten minutes before you cut her off."

"Yeah, thanks Captain Obvious. I read that part in the manual."

Patrick gives her his crooked grin.

"Why are cars always female anyway?" Kat blurts out.

"Not while you've got a ratchet."

Kat rolls her eyes. "Okay, the valves are in, what's next?"

"We'll re-connect these lines from the injection pump, and then we're going to run the wiring up to your dash for that switch."

Kat and Patrick re-connect the fuel lines, and then Kat rolls out from under her car and grabs the electrical components set out to the side. These were the last pieces left to the install kit she'd bought. She takes them with her under the car and stares at Patrick. He smirks, and then begins showing her how to attach all of the wiring components. Once they finish the hook-ups under the carriage, they move inside the vehicle and bump heads as they both go for the same screw underneath the dash.

Patrick grimaces, "You're just a walking accident aren't you?"

Kat hugs her arms to herself, "Hey, I already told you this was my conversion. It's not my fault if you have to go for every screw you see."

Patrick just rubs his head and gestures with his other hand for her to continue with the screws. Kat begins loosening and removing several. After about a half hour, she's managed to get the wiring up from the undercarriage into the spot where she would install the switch. She reaches to the seat next to her for the cutter that she was going to use to make the hole for the switch, but it's not there. Patrick holds it up beside her, grinning. She plucks it from his hand.

"Oh ho, now look who needs to work on her manners!"

Kat rolls her eyes as she works on the hole, "You're the one who stole my tool."

"I grabbed it so I could hand it to you. You're really ungrateful; you know that?"

Kat opens her mouth to make a sarcastic remark, but, distracted, she slices her finger. "Ouch!"

"Here, let me take a look at that." Patrick grabs a clean rag from the pocket of his coveralls and immediately starts dabbing at the blood. She's too shocked to pull her hand away. Then he wraps the finger with some gauze from the shop's first-aid kit.

Kat just stares stupidly at him. "I didn't know you had a soft side," she teases when he finishes wrapping the finger. Patrick brushes some hair out of her face.

"There's a lot you don't know about me." After several seconds of intense staring, Kat blushes and goes back to work on the hole. Once she finishes, she hooks up the switch and replaces all the removed screws from the dash.

After everything is done, she looks dazedly at the dash. "I did it," she whispers.

"Hey, don't get too excited yet. We need to purge the fuel and coolant lines, and then we still need to test drive this thing."

"Patrick," Kat looks up at him, "thank you." He just smiles, and then he goes under the car to retrieve some of the tools necessary to purge the systems.

ooooo

"Well, it took till three in the morning, but she ran fine on the highway. The veggie oil heated up like a dream. You just need to keep an eye out for anything unusual in the future. If anything feels off about the engine, you really need to take this baby into a mechanic. These conversions can be touchy," Patrick came into the shop, wiping his hands on a shop rag, but Kat is nowhere to be seen when he looks up. He rolls his eyes. "Kat?"

He walks the perimeter of the shop and finally spots her. She's fallen asleep, leaning against a stack of tires in the corner. Patrick smiles and brushes some hair out of her mouth where it's hanging wide open, before he nudges her with his foot.

"Hey! Sleeping Beauty!"

She starts awake, and when her vision focuses she glares at him, but it softens when she sees her car in the bay. "How'd she do?"

Patrick grins, "Beautiful." Kat blushes and then walks to her car. She starts it up. Patrick leans on her window. "So, I've got to lock up," he seems like there's more he wants to say, but he doesn't. Finally he settles for, "Well, I'll see you at school tomorrow. I'll keep my silence about this."

She smiles. "Admit it. You're obsessed with me."

He quirks an eyebrow, "Not a chance, and I fully expect my share of the winnings from that bet. You owe me."

She laughs, and then drives off without another word. He just shakes his head as he starts putting all the tools up.


End file.
